Southern Democrat, James Henry Hammond, believed that slavery was necessary for the economic growth of the nation and without it, the North would also perish. Furthermore, the Constitutional Convention of South Carolina agreed secession was unavoidable when Abraham Lincoln was appointed into office. Therefore, initiated the beginning of an inevitable confrontation between the North and the South. These two exceptionally strict and uncompromising ideologies regarding slavery led to one of the most controversial and bloody wars in American history.
What many people don’t know is that the original intent of the Civil War was to preserve the Union. Many factors went into Lincoln’s decision to also address slavery through this war. For one, the number of men enlisting in the war was dwindling, and it became apparent that black manpower would be absolutely necessary to win the war. Also, the increasingly upset Radical Republicans and abolitionists let their opinions be known and persuaded the citizens of the North that the war could not be won without attacking the issue of slavery. Finally, Lincoln believed that transforming the dispute from a conflict to preserve the Union to a crusade against slavery would dissuade the threatening British and French from supporting the Confederacy.
Waxahachie Newspaper Inc., 30 November 2013. Web. 26 April 2014. n.p. Lawrence Sullivan Ross. Sul Ross State University, n.d.
“The Cradle Tower.” hrp.org.uk. Historic Royal Places, n.d. Web. 1 May. 2014.
“If anything, the opposition was more powerful and effective in the North than in the South.” (Why Did the Confederacy Lose?, pg 120) However the powerful opposition in the North w... ... middle of paper ... ...t and see it as a way to get rid of the moral burden of slavery. The conservative stands Lincoln originally held were broken with the Emancipation Proclamation, causing a massive internal struggle in the South to bring them down. This is why the North had already won to the extent of Lincoln’s conservative political stands. “Having taken an oath to preserve and defend the Constitution, which protected slavery, “I did not consider that I had a right to touch the ‘State’ institution of ‘Slavery’ until all other measures for restoring the Union had failed….”” (Who Freed The Slaves, pg 203) The attrition strategy was halted with the mental conversion of the war being a moral war and the internal divisions in the South would finally clinch victory for the North. However all other advantages were possessed by the North and therefore the North had won the Civil War before it began to the extent of Lincoln’s conservative political stands.
At this time the North had been in control of the house of representative and the south in control of the senate. This was a problem and both needed to agree on a law before it could be passed. The fear of expansion was great both in the north and the south , the north as it was afraid if the south gained political control that unconstitutional practises might be forced upon it from those wanting to keep slavery going and the south as it was afraid that slavery might be banned through congress. Both north and south would do anything to stop the other gaining control. The decision of admitting a state in as a free or slave state, made the dived the north and south start as it highlighted their differences and an argument that was very important to the different areas.
While there is plenty to discuss why this was the cause of the war, the differences between the North and the South go much deeper then the question of slavery. Especially, since the Northern states tried slavery but it did not benefit them as well as it benefited the South. The last use of slaves in the North ended before 1850. While, slavery did play an influence and will be discussed how it did later, it is important to dispel some myths that have been lost in translation over the past 152 years. To the average American today, when asked what caused the Civil War a majority will say, slavery was the immediate cause of the war.
The Missouri Compromise should also be talked about because this event shows how the nation was divided on the issue of slavery and how the new territories would handle the slavery issue. The third reason why the war could not be avoided was introduction of the Tariff of 1828. This event leads us to the issue of nullification and the indifferences held by each the North and the South on the issues of taxation. Lastly, I will talk about Abraham Lincoln and how his winning the election of 1860 would be the final event that will lead the south into secession and the country into the American Civil War. Slavery is not only a major topic for why the Civil War started, but how it will also define the geographic landscape of the United States prior to the Civil War into free states and slaves states.
“Overview” CCS. AHIMA. 2014. Web. 11 May 2014.
N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2011. Kelly, Martin. "William Howard Taft Biography - Twenty-Seventh President of the United States."